The Next Generation Initiative
Encyclopedia
The Next Generation Initiative is an independent non-profit educational foundation
Foundation (United States law)
A foundation in the United States is a type of charitable organization. However, the Internal Revenue Code distinguishes between private foundations and public charities...

 focused on helping students gain real-world skills and experience that will advance their education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...

, and serve them as future leaders in their communities and in the broader public arena.

The Initiative works with leaders and executives in the fields of public affairs, government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...

, science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...

, technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...

, education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...

, business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...

 and the arts
ARts
aRts, which stands for analog Real time synthesizer, is an audio framework that is no longer under development. It is best known for previously being used in KDE to simulate an analog synthesizer....

 to open up opportunities for fellowships, internships, seminars and other educational opportunities which might not otherwise be available to students.

History

Often referred to as Hellenext, the Next Generation Initiative was founded in 2003 with the help of a group of Greek-American leaders — including the President Emeritus of New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...

, John Brademas
John Brademas
John Brademas is an American politician and educator originally from Indiana. He served as Majority Whip of the United States House of Representatives for the Democratic Party from 1977 to 1981 at the conclusion of a twenty-year career as a member of the United States House of Representatives...

, Gates Foundation executive Sylvia Mathews Burwell, Michael Dukakis
Michael Dukakis
Michael Stanley Dukakis served as the 65th and 67th Governor of Massachusetts from 1975–1979 and from 1983–1991, and was the Democratic presidential nominee in 1988. He was born to Greek immigrants in Brookline, Massachusetts, also the birthplace of John F. Kennedy, and was the longest serving...

, high-tech entrepreneur Ted Leonsis
Ted Leonsis
Theodore John Leonsis is an Internet pioneer, sports team owner, venture capital investor, filmmaker, author and philanthropist. His early new media company, Redgate Communications was acquired by America Online in 1994, and Leonsis became a senior AOL executive for the next 13 years...

, former Assistant Secretary of State Barbara Spyridon Pope, Sen. Paul Sarbanes
Paul Sarbanes
Paul Spyros Sarbanes , a Democrat, is a former United States Senator who represented the state of Maryland. Sarbanes was the longest-serving senator in Maryland history, having served from 1977 until 2007. He did not seek re-election in 2006, when he was succeeded by fellow Democrat Ben Cardin...

, journalist George Stephanopoulos
George Stephanopoulos
George Robert Stephanopoulos is an American television journalist and a former political advisor.Stephanopoulos is most well known as the chief political correspondent for ABC News – the news division of the broadcast television network ABC – and a co-anchor of ABC News's morning news...

 and George Tenet
George Tenet
George John Tenet was the Director of Central Intelligence for the United States Central Intelligence Agency, and is Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at Georgetown University....

 — who went on to offer the Initiative’s first Master Classes for Young Leaders to students in Boston, New York, Seattle and Washington, DC.

Joined by other leaders from the global Greek community — including Canadian broadcast journalist Thalia Assuras
Thalia Assuras
- External links :* , an October 1998 article from a UWO website...

, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

’s Ambassador to the U.S. Alexandros Mallias, Special Envoy Andrew Natsios
Andrew Natsios
Andrew S. Natsios is an American civil servant who has served in a number of Massachusetts and high level federal government positions. From 2001 to 2005 he served as Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, and was appointed as Special Coordinator for International Disaster...

, founding publisher of Odyssey magazine Gregory Maniatis, the late CBS correspondent Ike Pappas
Ike Pappas
Icarus Nestor Pappas , better known as Ike Pappas, was a CBS News correspondent for 25 years.-Life and career:...

 and the Hon. Sen. Olympia Snowe
Olympia Snowe
Olympia Jean Snowe , née Bouchles, is the senior United States Senator from Maine and a member of the Republican Party. Snowe has become widely known for her ability to influence the outcome of close votes, including whether to end filibusters. She and her fellow Senator from Maine, Susan Collins,...

 — these leaders have continued to inspire and guide the Initiative’s vision as members of the Initiative’s Advisory Board.

Other founding members include educators who have helped guide the Initiative’s efforts to help students — such as Dr. William Capitan, President Emeritus of Georgia Southwestern State University
Georgia Southwestern State University
Georgia Southwestern State University in Americus, Georgia, is a school in the University System of Georgia.-The College of Arts and Sciences:The College of Arts and Sciences at GSW offers undergraduate degrees in art Georgia Southwestern State University in Americus, Georgia, is a school in the...

, Prof. Theodore Couloumbis of the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy
Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy
Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy is an independent, non-profit Greek institute that does policy-oriented research and training...

, Dr. James Dimitriou of AHEPA’s Journey to Greece, the late Prof. Charles Moskos
Charles Moskos
Charles C. Moskos was a sociologist of the United States Military and a professor at Northwestern University...

 of Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....

, Prof. Chris Pavlides of Temple University
Temple University
Temple University is a comprehensive public research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Originally founded in 1884 by Dr. Russell Conwell, Temple University is among the nation's largest providers of professional education and prepares the largest body of professional...

, and Alexis Phylactopoulos President of the College Year in Athens — as well as leaders and experts in the fields of public affairs and philanthropy, including the founder of the Caring Institute Val Halamandaris, former President and CEO of Save the Children
Save the Children
Save the Children is an internationally active non-governmental organization that enforces children's rights, provides relief and helps support children in developing countries...

 Canada Effie Triantafilopoulos, attorney and venture capitalist George Stamas, Initiative co-founders Leon Stavrou (the first executive director of the American Hellenic Institute and the first full-time registered lobbyist for a Greek American organization) and William Shuyler, and the Executive Director of the Alexander S. Onassis Foundation
Alexander S. Onassis Foundation
Wishing to honor the memory of his son Alexander, who died in 1973, in an airplane crash at the age of 25, Aristotle Onassis directed in his will that half of his estate should be transferred upon his own death to a foundation to be established in Alexander’s name...

 and former Ambassador of Greece to the U.S., Loucas Tsilas.

Master Classes for Young Leaders

The Next Generation Initiative’s Master Classes for Young Leaders program is a continuing series of informal seminars and “conversations with leaders” which bring undergraduate and graduate students together with an array of leaders who speak with students about their background and experiences as leaders, and discuss their views and insights concerning current issues. The Next Generation Initiative offers these Master Classes on a free, first-come first-served basis.

In recent years, Master Class leaders have included Bill Antholis at the Brookings Institution
Brookings Institution
The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, D.C., in the United States. One of Washington's oldest think tanks, Brookings conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics, metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, and...

, Thalia Assuras
Thalia Assuras
- External links :* , an October 1998 article from a UWO website...

 at CBS News
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...

, former Congressman John Brademas
John Brademas
John Brademas is an American politician and educator originally from Indiana. He served as Majority Whip of the United States House of Representatives for the Democratic Party from 1977 to 1981 at the conclusion of a twenty-year career as a member of the United States House of Representatives...

 at NYU, Sylvia Mathews Burwell at the Gates Foundation, Spyros Capralos at the Athens Stock Exchange
Athens Stock Exchange
The Athens Stock Exchange or ASE or ATHEX is a stock exchange located in Athens, Greece.-History:The Athens Stock Exchange started trading in 1876. The Athens Stock Exchange is a subsidiary of Hellenic Exchanges S.A., whose shares are listed in ATHEX...

, Prof. Theodore Couloumbis at the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy
Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy
Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy is an independent, non-profit Greek institute that does policy-oriented research and training...

, Gov. Michael Dukakis
Michael Dukakis
Michael Stanley Dukakis served as the 65th and 67th Governor of Massachusetts from 1975–1979 and from 1983–1991, and was the Democratic presidential nominee in 1988. He was born to Greek immigrants in Brookline, Massachusetts, also the birthplace of John F. Kennedy, and was the longest serving...

 at Northeastern University, Paul Glastris
Paul Glastris
Paul Glastris is an American journalist and political columnist. Glastris is the current editor in chief of The Washington Monthly and was President Bill Clinton's chief speechwriter from September 1998 to the end of his presidency in early 2001. Before 1998, Glastris was a correspondent for U.S....

 at the Washington Monthly, Dr. George Hatsopoulos and Marina Hatsopoulos at MIT, Maria Iliou at the American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...

, Amb. Andreas Kakouris at the Embassy of Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...

, Nikos Konstandaras at the Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

 offices of Kathimerini
Kathimerini
I Kathimerini is a daily morning newspaper published in Athens. It is published in the Greek language, as well as in an abridged English-language edition. The English edition is sold separately in the United States and as a supplement to the International Herald Tribune in Greece and Cyprus. On 2...

 newspaper, Amb. Tom Korologos, Ted Leonsis
Ted Leonsis
Theodore John Leonsis is an Internet pioneer, sports team owner, venture capital investor, filmmaker, author and philanthropist. His early new media company, Redgate Communications was acquired by America Online in 1994, and Leonsis became a senior AOL executive for the next 13 years...

 at AOL
AOL
AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...

, Dr. Panos Livadas at the National Press Club
National Press Club
The National Press Club is a professional organization and private social club for journalists. It is located in Washington, D.C. Its membership consists of journalists, former journalists, government information officers, and those considered to be regular news sources. It is well-known for its...

, Amb. Alexandros Mallias at the Embassy of Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

, Mike Manatos and Tom Manatos in the Office of the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, or Speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives...

, Dr. Demetrios Papademetriou at the Migration Policy Institute
Migration Policy Institute
The Migration Policy Institute is a Washington, D.C.-based think tank established in 2001 by Kathleen Newland and Demetrios G. Papademetriou. It is "an independent, non-partisan, non-profit think-tank dedicated to the study of the movement of people worldwide." The Migration policy Institute works...

, Aris Papadapoulos of Titan Cement
Titan Cement
Titan Cement Company S.A. is a large cement producing company, based in the Ano Patissia suburb of Athens, Greece. In 2009, it was ranked 8th in the entire world for the award of "Top Company For Leaders" receiving global distinction regarding the development of human capital and leadership...

, Maria Papathanasiou of the European Institute
European Institute
The European Institute is a nonpartisan public policy organization dedicated to Transatlantic relations. The Institute was founded in 1989 and is based in Washington, D.C.. It regularly hosts forums, roundtable discussions, and programs with political and business leaders from the U.S. and Europe...

, Tony Podesta of Podesta Associates (now known as the Podesta Group), Barbara Spyridon Pope at the State Department, Emanuel Rouvelas of K&L Gates, Chairman of Greece’s Council of Economic Advisors, Prof. Plutarchos Sakellaris, Rep. John Sarbanes
John Sarbanes
John Peter Spyros Sarbanes is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2007. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district includes the state capital of Annapolis, central portions of the city of Baltimore, and parts of Anne Arundel, Howard and Baltimore counties.-Early life, education...

, Sen. Paul Sarbanes
Paul Sarbanes
Paul Spyros Sarbanes , a Democrat, is a former United States Senator who represented the state of Maryland. Sarbanes was the longest-serving senator in Maryland history, having served from 1977 until 2007. He did not seek re-election in 2006, when he was succeeded by fellow Democrat Ben Cardin...

, Rep. Zack Space
Zack Space
Zachary T. "Zack" Space is an American politician and the former U.S. Representative for , serving from 2007 until 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party.-Early life, education and career:...

, Chris Saridakis at Gannet
Gannet
Gannets are seabirds comprising the genus Morus, in the family Sulidae, closely related to the boobies.The gannets are large black and white birds with yellow heads. They have long pointed wings and long bills. Northern gannets are the largest seabirds in the North Atlantic, with a wingspan of up...

, John Sitilides
John Sitilides
John Sitilides is a government affairs and global public policy strategist specializing in environmental regulatory and energy technology issues...

 at the Woodrow Wilson Center, George Stephanopoulos
George Stephanopoulos
George Robert Stephanopoulos is an American television journalist and a former political advisor.Stephanopoulos is most well known as the chief political correspondent for ABC News – the news division of the broadcast television network ABC – and a co-anchor of ABC News's morning news...

 at ABC News
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...

, George Tenet
George Tenet
George John Tenet was the Director of Central Intelligence for the United States Central Intelligence Agency, and is Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at Georgetown University....

 at Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...

, Rep. Dina Titus
Dina Titus
Alice Costandina "Dina" Titus is the former U.S. Representative for , serving from 2009 until 2011. She is a member of the Democratic Party. She previously served in the Nevada Senate and was that body's minority leader from 1993 to 2009....

, Frances Townsend
Frances Townsend
Frances M. Fragos Townsend is the former Homeland Security Advisor to United States President George W. Bush and TV personality. Townsend was appointed to this position by President Bush on May 28, 2004. Her resignation was announced November 19, 2007...

, shipowner Nikolas Tsakos
Nikolas Tsakos
Nikolas Tsakos has been President, Chief Executive Officer and a director of Tsakos Energy Navigation since its inception. Mr Tsakos is the sole shareholder of Tsakos Energy Management...

 of Tsakos Shipping, Rep. Niki Tsongas
Niki Tsongas
Nicola Dickson "Niki" Sauvage Tsongas is the U.S. Representative for , serving since a special election in 2007. She is a member of the Democratic Party.She is the widow of U.S. Senator Paul Tsongas, who represented the 5th district in the 1970s...

, and Dr. Roy Vagelos at the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...

.

The Athens Fellowship

The Athens Fellowship is an international leadership program for university students which focuses on Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

. Conducted in partnership with Greece’s Secretariat of Communication, the Next Generation Initiative’s Athens Fellowship program offers outstanding undergraduate and graduate students of Hellenic
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 heritage who are studying government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...

, political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...

, international relations
International relations
International relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...

, economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...

, business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...

, journalism
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...

 and related fields, opportunities to meet with leaders on both sides of the Atlantic and attend seminars and briefings on a range of issues that focuses on Greece as a global power based on the global dominance of Greek shipping
Greek shipping
The Hellenic Merchant Marine refers to the Merchant Marine of Greece, engaged in commerce and transportation of goods and services universally. It consists of the merchant vessels owned by Greek civilians, flying either the Greek flag or a flag of convenience...

, as a growing economic and political power in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, and as a regional leader in Southeastern Europe and the Mediterranean. In previous years, Athens Fellows have included students from Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...

, Carnegie Mellon, Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...

, Harvard, Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

, Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the...

 and Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

, Boston College
Boston College
Boston College is a private Jesuit research university located in the village of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA. The main campus is bisected by the border between the cities of Boston and Newton. It has 9,200 full-time undergraduates and 4,000 graduate students. Its name reflects its early...

, Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...

, Dickinson College
Dickinson College
Dickinson College is a private, residential liberal arts college in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Originally established as a Grammar School in 1773, Dickinson was chartered September 9, 1783, five days after the signing of the Treaty of Paris, making it the first college to be founded in the newly...

, Miami University
Miami University
Miami University is a coeducational public research university located in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1809, it is the 10th oldest public university in the United States and the second oldest university in Ohio, founded four years after Ohio University. In its 2012 edition, U.S...

, Occidental College
Occidental College
Occidental College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college located in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1887, Occidental College, or "Oxy" as it is called by students and alumni, is one of the oldest liberal arts colleges on the West Coast...

 and the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

, the University of Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...

, the University of North Carolina
University of North Carolina
Chartered in 1789, the University of North Carolina was one of the first public universities in the United States and the only one to graduate students in the eighteenth century...

 and the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...

 as well as students from Arizona State University
Arizona State University
Arizona State University is a public research university located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area of the State of Arizona...

, George Washington University
George Washington University
The George Washington University is a private, coeducational comprehensive university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States...

, Hollins University
Hollins University
Hollins University is a four-year institution of higher education, a private university located on a campus on the border of Roanoke County, Virginia and Botetourt County, Virginia...

, James Madison University
James Madison University
James Madison University is a public coeducational research university located in Harrisonburg, Virginia, U.S. Founded in 1908 as the State Normal and Industrial School for Women at Harrisonburg, the university has undergone four name changes before settling with James Madison University...

, New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...

, MIT, Stanford, UCLA and the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...

.

Got Greek?

The Got Greek? National Student Survey is the first national online study designed exclusively for American university students of Greek ancestry. The Got Greek? survey is part of the Next Generation National Research Study, the first nationwide, in-depth research study of Greek-American/Greek
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....

/Hellenic
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 college students using interviews, polls, surveys and student forums to help students tell their own stories. Launched in 2008 by the Next Generation Initiative with significant support from the Zapis Charitable Foundation and others, the Study is being conducted with the assistance of a network of over 45 Greek-American/Hellenic
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 student groups on college campuses across the country. The survey has been featured in various news publications such as The National Herald.

Birthright Greece

To meet the growing interest on the part of young Greek-Americans in a revitalized Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 following the Athens 2004 Olympics — especially on the part of those college-aged students who have never been to Greece — the Initiative launched the Athens Fellowship. At the same time, the Initiative began its support of AHEPA’s reborn Journey to Greece — a program which offers students college credit for summer classes taken on a campus in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

. Taken together, these two programs mark the first steps towards the Initiative’s pioneering vision of a “Birthright Greece” alliance, inspired in part by a 2007 Odyssey Magazine article in which Gregory Maniatis argued passionately for the expansion of the Athens Fellowship into a program similar to the Birthright Israel
Birthright Israel
Taglit-Birthright Israel is a Jewish Israeli registered charity that sponsors free 10-day heritage trips to Israel. Birthright Israel's goals are to diminish the division between Israel and Jewish communities around the world and to strengthen participants' personal Jewish identity and...

 program — which is a network of programs that offers thousands of college-age students the opportunity to visit Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

 every year. The Initiative’s continuing work with the government of Greece and organizations such as AHEPA’s Journey to Greece represents the foundation of the Next Generation Initiative’s efforts to make the “Birthright Greece” concept a reality for all the young men and women of the Greek diaspora
Greek diaspora
The Greek diaspora, also known as Hellenic Diaspora or Diaspora of Hellenism, is a term used to refer to the communities of Greek people living outside the traditional Greek homelands, but more commonly in southeast Europe and Asia Minor...

 who want to see and experience Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

for themselves.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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